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Aug
23
2010

Facebook and Jesus Christ Superstar

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Jesus and facebook

Flashback. Almost 40 years ago, Andrew Lloyd Weber wrote the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. The title song is sung by Judas as he questions who Jesus is. Judas sings, “Every time I look at you I don’t understand why you let the things you did get so out of hand. You’d have managed better if you’d had a plan. Why’d you choose such a backward time and such a strange land? If you’d come today you would have reached a whole nation. Israel in 4 B.C. had no mass communication…”

Now He has Facebook.

Phenomenon would be an understatement. Facebook may be here to stay. It has over 500 million subscribers and it is rapidly pushing to 1 billion. Imagine. 1/6th of the people on the planet using one social networking tool. If you do not count the impoverished in third world countries who have no access to a computer, it may account for more than half of the population on the planet. The world can communicate as one.

So what do you think? Does it make a difference that the Son of God came 2000 years ago? Could he have waited for Facebook? Would that have been a quicker way to spread the news? Apparently not.

Marshall McLuhan once said that the the medium is the message. McLuhan’s work is complicated to fully explain in a short piece but he was saying that content does not matter as much as the vehicle through which the content is delivered. I am not going to make an argument here about why Facebook itself is more culture shaping then a Facebook post by a 16 year old boy but I will say that the medium itself is what shapes society over time. Facebook is shaping society.

That is pretty esoteric for a Sunday morning. More thinking maybe needed by all of us. However, in the simplest of terms I can say that (1) Jesus’ birth fulfilled the prophecies so He came at the time appointed by God. (2) Jesus is the center of all things (3) He is more important and shapes the world more than content and (4) God has called His people to deliver His message.

Can Facebook be helpful to deliver the message? In large part; probably not. Facebook as a medium won’t help spread the love of Jesus. The love of Jesus is spread by the love of people who are in Christ. Those people may use Facebook to that end, as long as they remember that Facebook as a medium has a message and it is not the message of Christ.

Yes, you can post your thoughts and responses to me on Facebook.


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Related posts:

  1. Thinking Biblically About Facebook
  2. Join us at Facebook and Myspace
  3. How to Protect Your Privacy with Facebook’s New Privacy Settings in 17 Easy Steps
  4. Join Our Interactive Facebook Community
  5. worship.com on facebook

About the author

Randy Schlichting

Randy is a pastor in the Presbyterian Church in America and has served on staff at Perimeter Church for the last thirteen years. He has developed and led various ministries including discipleship and worship. Currently he is the Pastor of Shepherding. Over the last few years he has produced four CDs including Our God Reigns, Worship Well and The Advent Experience. He has also completed a booklet called, Edwards For Five based on the edited resolutions of Jonathan Edwards and an original work entitled, Minority Rules, which brings to light the decline of Christianity in America. He is working on two new projects: one is a handbook for church leaders on shepherding tentatively titled, Like Sheep With a Shepherd and the other is a book on the importance of seeing the gospel in memorable quotations. Both are expected in fall of 2010. Randy is one of the founders of Metro Atlanta Seminary, a new way to train men and women for ministry. He is the Stated Clerk of Metro Atlanta Presbytery and he is a popular speaker with both adults and youth. He has traveled to more then thirty countries and has been joyfully married to Dorothy for twenty-nine years. Together they have three daughters ages 24, 22 and 18 and a wonderful son in law. Over the years Randy has taught on topics ranging from worship to forgiveness to current affairs such as the impact other religions have on Christianity. He has a heart for the world and the young so he likes to teach on missions and mentoring the next generation. He currently publishes a blog called worshipwell@blogspot.com and he hosts a popular podcast called, One 4 the Road, which is available on iTunes with Bob Carter. He is on faculty with Metro Atlanta Seminary.

1 ping

  1. Bible-Marriage-Today says:

    August 23, 2010 at 1:20 pm (UTC -5 )

    Reply

    What The Bible Says About Marriage: Hidden Truths You Need To know (2)…

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